With the start of a new season comes the feelings of hope and the settling of the "anything is possible" attitude; unluckily for the Reds, both of those feelings are usually faded by July. This season will be interesting on many levels, whether we have a contending team or if we bottom out by mid-season. Again.

The end of a long and painful chapter in Reds history culminated last season with the trades of Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. Some think the moving of Dunn was stupid, uncomprehensible, and ignorant. I respectfully disagree with these people, and in my former RR life, disrespectfully disagreed. Griffey was old, and I blame the evil curse Marge put on our franchise for ruining his career in Cinci. Good luck wherever you end up Griffey, and may your offspring find their way to Cinci, without the injuries.

ON to the drama of this 2009 roster. The Reds have a good track record of surprises and taking chances, (Burton, Phillips, Hamilton, Aurilia, etc.) so it will be interesting this year to see how the attempted turnarounds pan out. We have Gomes, a talented rough bumpkin who can hit the ball, and now has a chance. He is young enough to change his legacy in Cinci, but old enough where this is probably his last serious chance of doing that. Alex Gonzales is also looking for a change of luck after a rough season last year, with health and family issues keeping him out all season. If healthy, Gonzales takes a question mark in the line-up, and makes it a period. I think how his season goes will determine how our season as a team will go.

Homer Bailey drama is lingering around the 5th starter spot, but Micah O. is looking to take that spot as well. Both of these guys are touted for their talent, but havent really matched their potential. Micah has an outstanding bat, and personally, I`d rather have him on the bench than Ward or Jacque Jones.

Speaking of Ward and Jones, this season also raises the question of, "Who is this year`s C-Pat?" unluckily enough for the Nationals, C-Pat is this year`s C-Pat, but the Reds fans are figuring out odds between Willy Taveras, Jacque Jones, or fat Ward. Ward will not be, because he has no position due to Votto being amazing, if it was last year, Dusty would have kept Votto in the minors and made Ward a starter, but God likes us enough for that to not be the case now. Taveras is looking for a Reds turnaround, after being paid to be the "starter version" of Norris Hopper. Dickerson had an impressive year last year, but that will be drama as well, since Gomes is looking at that LF spot. If Gonzales is healthy at SS, Hairston will be the starting LF on opening day, but nobody knows how long that will last, barring his health. We can only put so many players on this team, and though the competition between these three should end in us having a solid LF, Jacque Jones will pull his "Dusty Card". This means a mediocre Spring Training could for no reason earn Jones a roster spot above someone more deserving.

Fan favorite Jeff Keppinger is looking to be pretty much out of the mix this year if Gonzales is healthy. Kepp sucks off the bench, but is a good #2 hitter as an every day player. Sadly for Keppinger and his cool last name, he is not as good of an anything as Gonzales. Edwin...do something already. Fans have been waiting for Encarnacion to move out of his mediocre ways and become a star in this league. He has the opportunity to be damn good, he can hit and field, but cant do them consistantly. He makes an all-star play, and then two pitches later makes an error on a routine play. I still blame this on his braces, and think if Edwin is solid this year, we could be solid too. Edwin`s woes give Keppinger a roster spot.

With all of the power being taken away with Dunn and Griffey all eyes will be on Bruce and Votto this year. I think both of these guys are going to have solid years and put some of the worries at bay with their power/badassness. Phillips is a lock at 2nd, and a damn good defender, but could tweak his offense a little. I think if he stopped swinging at the first pitch and was a little more patient at the plate he would have a better OBP% and BA, which could result in more runs and steals, or as we have coined it "create more havoc".

This is the best pitching rotation for the franchise I can remember in my short lived life. I remember being happy and hopeful with just Harang and Arroyo two years ago, but now we have Volquez and Cueto. I honestly think we could have the best rotation in baseball this year if Harang can revert to his norm. His W-L looked bad last year, but even worse was how our offense played when he was on the mound. This was before of course he was injured. Micah, Bailey and Thompson all have talent, and they are all fighting for the 5th spot, that makes me very, very happy. No Matt Belisle, no Eric Milton, and no Josh Fucking-Fogg.

The pen is the pen, and honestly who knows what will happen, I wont even pretend that I do. We gave Coco a lot of money last year to not really do anything. I believe most bullpens have four mediocre pitchers and two guys with good stuff, but what really matters is having reliable starters that keep relievers out long enough to not expose their lack of talent. Burton and Coco have good stuff, I can`t say the others do and honestly believe it, unless Micah or Bailey end up in the pen. This post is long, but its going to continue.

Other factors in Spring Training include Wilkin Castillo. You have to appreciate someone who can play anywhere besides pitcher, he might not be a starter or get a lot of playing time, but he could take a spot away from a solid player who is less versatile. Hernandez at C is another rebound story to watch, and Hanigan is a player who will never play even though he should, because of the managing style of "D-Bag".

Now this is pretty optimistic, and unrealistically, I think if everything goes right, we could be a wilcard contender this year. This means long innings for our starters, dominant showings from Coco, healthy Gonzales and Hairston, career revitalizations by Gomes, Taveras, and Hernandez, outbreak seasons by Edwin and Bruce and consistency by Phillips and Votto. I think that this team has taken its meds and may be more of an evened out team. This means we wont have as many goose eggs on the board at the end of the day, but we wont be able to win any 10-9 games either. I think we will average about 4 runs a game, but I think our pitching may be able to avarage 3 (this is of course being overly optimistic) I think there will be many close games this year, and we will actually get to see is Coco can blow a lot of saves or not.

On the flip side, this team could be bad and obviously waiting for 2010. This is interesting, in the mid-season who would go? With players like Yonder Alonso, Juan Francisco, Chris V., and Drew Stubbs waiting in the midsts of this season, the departures of players such as Edwin, Gonzales and even B-Phil could finish a complete transition. These players leaving could bring trade value and cap room. We have hungry young players in the minors who wouldnt hesitate to fill these spots, possibly without missing a beat in the next year.

This may be the longest post of all time, I should have been studying Spanish instead, but the Reds are the most important hispanic entity of my life. Consider this my "season preview" if you will. I believe we have talent and have a promising future, but the only things that are certain this year are J.T.M, Goldstar Chili, and "Paint the Town Red" songs mixed with circusesque announcing, Dusty`s gut shitting all over us fans, and verge-of-death Walt Jocketty press conferences.